I ahve heard of these being used and they seem to produce great results. How do I make them? Thanks in advance.

It's quite simple. You'll need an empty 12 gram CO2 cartridge (the ones used in BB guns), some black powder, and a fuse. Enlarge the hole in the neck of the cartridge with a drill or a nail or what have you until it's large enough for the fuse to fit in. Funnel black powder into it until it's full, stick in the fuse, and seal it up with epoxy putty or tape or whatever strikes your fancy.

Cratermakers explode with considerable force and throw shrapnel - sharp parts of the metal cartridge - at high velocity. To avoid being hit by shrapnel, put something between you and the cratermaker when it goes off.

~Zero the Inestimable

Would replacing the BP with strike anywhere match heads work? Thanks
-Matt

Tightly packed matches will work. Don't use strike anywhere matches - Just get regular book matches.

~Zero the Inestimable

would the matches work bett if you striped and powderd them?

Thanks Zero.
-Matt

What would I hide behind? If I have to hide behind something that limits my view of the cratermaker when it goes off, that isn't good. About how far does shraprel travel? If I could just make a bigger fuse and run back far, I could still watch it.

And on a slightly diferent note, would attaching a cratermaker to a can of butane make more shraprel? I would imagine this would be a spectacular site, but safety is first. I have seen pics of someone who has a set-up like this, and they had pics of it going off and they weren't that far away. I think combining cratermakers with various things could produce interesting results .

am i correct in saying that using strike anywhere matches would not be very good, in that they could ignite while you were loading them into the cartridge? connecting the cratermaker to a butane can would produce a nice bang sound and some nice flames as well. as for shrapnel, yes there would be more, but not a whole lot more.

Here is the wall thickness of a c02 canister:

you guys ever tried cratermakers with the 20oz tanks? would that be some crazy shit or what? a use of a lot of BP, but kool all the same.

I've found casings as far as fifty meters from the blast site. I would suggest a slab of plywood with a heavy plexiglass window in it. That should let you watch and keep you from getting perforated.

Alternatively, you can use the rock method. It works as follows:

code:

---

You           Rock  Blast Point

 O
/|\             __
/ \            /  \ .

---

As long as the top of the rock is between the top of your head and the cratermaker any shrapnel that is radiated from the blast will strike the rock before it hits you. If you care to think of it that way, you are in the shadow of the rock in regards to the cratermaker.

code:

---

                 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 O                !!!!!Direct Shrapnel!!!
/|\   Safe      __ !!!!!!!!Path!!!!!!!!!!
/ \            /  \ . !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

In this manner you can blow things up that will have obvious visual effect like phone books and watch the show without getting metal in your eye.

This is, in fact, exactly how I took the shot above. Notice the prominent rock in the center of the picture; The blast actually took place behind the rock rather than on top of it.

~Zero the Inestimable

Cob,CO2bomb,Crater maker

Ingredients:

-CO2 Cartridge

-Black powder

-Duct tape

-Fuse

Method: First of all fill the CO2 cartridge (found in hobby stores) with black powder and then fit the fuse into the hole and seal it using duct tape. Light the fuse to make it explode but beware the shrapnel that comes of these things is very dangerous. The best thing to do with these is place them on the ground, light the fuse and run for cover behind a wall or something.

Indeed. Thank you for stating the obvious.

Again.

By the bye, CO2 cartridges generally are not found at hobby shops unless the shop in question deals with airguns - As that is what they are used for.

You can, however, get full cartridges from Kmart or similar and empty them the old fashioned way by shooting them, or if you ask the right person nicely you can get a load of empties for free.

~Zero the Inestimable

Find a friend with a paintball gun and ask him if you can have his empties. Chances are hes not gonna want them unless he is a pyro too. thats all you got to do. about the match heads, what is better, match powder or the match heads? or does it not make a difference? I'd like to know that myself.

I think heads will be best Jak, i'm not sure tho. It's har work sniping match heads imafine the work making em powder?

-Matt

Full heads work best.

~Zero the Inestimable

2 summers ago I was making these with match heads, I would fill them to the top through a somewhat small hole I poked, & just holding a fuse in with tape. (& these worked)So after seeing this thread I decided to make a couple, one with black powder & one with matcheads. I Drilled out the top this year remembering it was a pain pushing each matchhead through last time, making it big enough to just drop a match head in. I drilled both out this way, filled them both. I lit the black powder one, & it just shot about 6 in. into the ground. Knowing the black powder was more powerfull, I even went as far as using durhams on the matchead fuse hole. (Yes I know it cannot take the pressure, but figured it would help) It did not, once again it shot into the ground. You cant tell me making the hole about 0.01 bigger it is preventing them from going off, im pissed. Waste of fuse

Do you mean like it turned into a rocket or you had buried the cratermakers? I wouldn't think .01 in. or whatever would make a difference, I would test it again to be sure. BTW, some cheap epoxy shouldn't hurt.

i think he means the gas forced the cylander into the ground. which makes sence if the hole is big enough to fit whole matchheads in, that seems way too big

[This message has been edited by P_Dub_Pyro (edited 05-26-2002).]

Was it like muddy? Cause that seems rather odd that it could go through 6 inches of dirt. Was it like sand or really loose?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aechean:
Was it like muddy? Cause that seems rather odd that it could go through 6 inches of dirt. Was it like sand or really loose?

---

I had it up to the top in the ground, hard dirt, & it pushed itself about 6 inches into the ground. Epoxy has worked, but makes it expensive, but still I shouldnt have to use high pressure epoxy for ones filled with blackpowder.

Wow, thats interesting. Zero, what do u use to seal the fuse in?

Epoxy putty.

~Zero the Inestimable

is there any way of puting in the BP fast?
because in my cratemakers it takes allmost 30 min. to fill the thing up..

QriX

The only crater maker that i ever made was out of a large metal biscuit tin. it took me and three friends two whole hours to cut enough match heads. We filled the tin (after drilling a fuse hole) then we wrapped the thing in so much duct tape you wouldn't believe. We lit the fuse and ran like heck. It made a huge noise and burnt a huge area of grass but it did ABSOLUTLY NO DAMAGE TO THE GROUND. Why did it go wrong? too much duct tape? any suggestions?

[This message has been edited by Chunkmiester (edited 05-31-2002).]